Back at it, no excuses. I spent the morning with Farmer Mike getting supplies to fill the newly constructed planters at my son, Ilan's, school - organic planting soil, herbs, veggies, some flowers, etc.
We first met Michael Yoken at Camp Tawonga during the Peacemaker Camp. Mike was tending the organic garden at the camp, and while I headed to the pool with Ariela, our daughter, Ilan would take off on his own for the secret garden to work with Mike to pick vegetables, make veggie pizzas in their brick oven and just get his hands dirty.
So after camp, we invited Mike to join us for dinner. He also gave us a consultation on how to make our garden grow better. Like every other resident of this area, we have a "mow and blow" gardener, but that gardener really doesn't garden, they just trim and clean. So Mike was the perfect addition to the gardening team - enriching the soil, planting edible garden and teaching us all something new. Since then, our winter ground cover is in full green bloom as fave beans, common vetch and barley grow strong and add needed nitrogen to the soil. We added volcanic rock to the garden to lower the pH and added mulch to keep the roses warm over the winter. Last week, Mike returned from Israel and came by to help plant a small herb garden. So when Ilan's school sent out an email asking for financial help on the filling the new garden beds that were constructed, I figured it was time to call in Farmer Mike. That was the morning.
This afternoon I got a call from Bill Wolf. Bill was introduced to me by my old college friend Gregory Kats. Bill was telling me about a project he is working on outside of Charlotte, NC - Kanawha. Of particular interest was the work they are doing in setting up Organic Farm on this 340 acre development. Part of the plan was to put in an organic agriculture teaching program and provide consulting to new residents in planting edible landscape. I could only think of our friend Gabriel who lived in Charlotte and is originally from Mexico. Gabe had set up a small landscaping business on the side hiring hard working Mexicans to provide mow and blow services around Charlotte. These same Mexicans probably came from small villages in Mexico where they spent their days helping their parents working on farm. These farm boys would end up crossing the border to become industrious "mow and blow" specialists. And then Bill Wolf would set up a school at Kanawha to teach these same guys to be farmers again.
What are the economies of scale of turning everyone's mow and blow lawns into edible gardens? What are the economies of scale of putting solar power on all of their roofs? Is this a step towards reversing the progress of the industrial revolution? Or a step towards the next revolution?
Tomorrow, we actually work with Ilan's 16 or so classmates to create an organic, edible garden. These poor kids, do they know that they might be part of a revolution?
